When souls drown
by kultmaverick9000
Summary: It was all routine for Jake by now; go to school, fake being a normal kid, plan, attack the yeerks. Wash, rinse, repeat. But when something is revealed, his world gets turned upside down.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs, they belong to Scholastic

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"Jake! Help me!"

"Hrrrrrllll…GRRRRRLLLL."

"Hold him down!" Cassie yelped as I struggled to keep a hold of a young badger. It helped that it's front paws were covered in bandages but the thing kept on squirming as Cassie prepared a needle of antibiotics for the injured animal.

"I'm trying but he keeps squirming." I complained.

"Have you tried acquiring him?" Marco rolled one eye towards me as he laid back on a bale of hay.

Oh. Yeah. That.

I focused on the badger as I held it down on the table and Cassie quickly and carefully gave it it's injections.

"Alllllll done now." Throwing the used needle away into a sharps bin, she took the now calm badger from me and before it could do anything placed the badger back into its cage.

"Thanks." Cassie smiled as she dusted her hands off.

"No problem." I shrugged, blushing a bit from her smile. We both looked up as we heard a rustle of feathers come from the rafters, the sight of a hawk making the animals in the surrounding cages squawk and chatter loudly.

"Hey Tobias."

((Rachel 's on her way. She's bringing Ax with her. She took him out shopping by the looks of it.))

"What atrocity has that poor soul done to befall such a fate? Shopping, the worst hell to put a man through…" Marco put a hand to his forehead melodramatically. I threw a cloth at him. He just laughed and threw a handful of hay back.

"Please don't do that. I need to keep this place clean." Cassie tutted.

Marco opened his mouth about to come up with some reply when Rachel stepped into the scene, Ax stepping clumsily behind her in his human morph.

"Trust me Ax, you look very trendy. The latest fashion, and only thirty dollars all together. Perfect bargain." She seemed to look proud of what she chose for Ax's get up.

"Ax…. Man… What has she done to you?" Marco gaped in mock horror.

"I am getting to learn about human customs better. Ter. Ter. Ter. Cusssssss –tummmmss."

"What? He looks fabulous." Rachel crossed her arms giving Marco a scowling look.

"Fabulous. Perfect word for him. He looks like a fruit."

"You got a problem with that?" Marco only blew her a raspberry in reply.

((So, no-one's around now.)) Tobias observed, changing the subject. ((So what's up for the meeting today?))

"Erek contacted me. He told me the yeerks are bringing in reinforcements to Earth." Marco pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bale of hay he had been lying on.

"What? More yeerks?" I frowned, racking my brains on how we as a team would have to deal with that.

"Hork-bajir controllers." Marco clarified. "We're causing Visser Three enough of a nuisance he's calling for back-up."

"Not good for us." Cassie frowned.

"So, we blow them up before they get here." Rachel shrugged. "Bada bing. Bada boom."

"Is there any way we can free the hork-bajir when they get here?" Cassie put in.

"That's one idea…." I agreed. "They're not the only problem though." When everyone turned to me I continued. "I've been hearing Tom talk about the Sharing doing a lot of fundraisers lately. I've been keeping an eye on who he's been calling, and he's contacting several people who have high-class jobs. Lawyers, CEO's, the like. I think the yeerks are trying to get quite a bit of money to do something, something big, but I'm not sure what yet."

"They're up to something….." Marco put his finger on his chin in thought.

"It might be the same thing they're organising for. More Hork Bajir, more money, it may be related in some manner." Ax suggested, no longer playing with sounds now we were being serious.

((Do you know the names of the people Tom's been contacting? I could fly over and watch them, see what's up.)) Tobias suggested.

"Good idea. And take Ax with you." I nodded, giving Tobias the names and addresses of several of the people I had checked that Tom was contacting.

"Do you have any more details of this shipment of hork-bajir controllers that's coming?" I asked Marco.

"Erek said it wouldn't be coming for another two weeks, which gives us a pretty good heads up. He had a lot of details of the ship they're coming in. It was pretty nifty, he had this 3-D hologram display of it."

"Maybe we should get together with him tomorrow afternoon then and see what he knows."

"Are we going to attack it?" Rachel asked, looking hopeful.

"First off, we're going to gather more information to see what we're getting into."

"Sounds like a plan." Cassie sat back down on a seat, looking thoughtful.

"Anything else?" Marco asked.

"Nah, man. It's a school day tomorrow, so we should go home before the parents get worried.

"Awww, man. I almost forgot, that essay for Mr. Vines!" Marco slapped his forehead.

"You didn't do it yet? It's due tomorrow." I gave him a look.

"I'll help him do it." Cassie offered.

"Thanks." Marco let out a sigh of relief.

"I better get going. I promised my sisters to show what I got them today."

"Okay then, everybody go home. Tomorrows Friday, so we'll have plenty of time this weekend to make a battle-plan."

"Let do it then." Rachel grinned, and turned to walk back to her home, waving everyone goodbye.

I waved everyone off likewise, and began to morph into a falcon for my flight home. I had considered walking, but Cassie's barn was too far and would have taken too long. The sun was just setting and it was autumn now, the leaves turning orange and red against the pink and gold sky. It was a stunning sight, moreso with the vision of a bird of prey. The wind was cold and I had difficulty finding a thermal to glide on, so I spent most of the way home flapping.

I landed in a bush and demorphed there, worried if I flew into my bedroom my parents would wonder how I got in without them noticing. Or worse, Tom bursting in my room (as siblings wont to do) and seeing me mid-morph.

Turns out I didn't need to worry. I walked into the kitchen and saw a note on the fridge. My Mom and dad had gone to see a show tonight, and had planned to tell me only I was home late. Tom was at the Sharing. They had left me money for a pizza.

I took a look at the forty dollars they had left me and gave a small whoop. Ordering for a meat-lover's pizza, a bunch of sides and a large bottle of soda, I connected my game console and started to play where I had left off on Megaman X8, while playing Nine Inch Nails. Loudly.

A sore stomach and several levels later, I cleaned myself up and climbed into bed. It felt nice to just relax and be a kid for once. Sure, the yeerks were still out there, but I was only human.

I curled up into the blankets keeping warm, electric blanket on, and tiredness pulled me down to sleep as I watched the red numbers on my alarm clock as the moon lit up my posters of basketball players on my wall.

Darkness overtook me, for how long I don't know, and I drifted into a thankfully dreamless slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine, scholastic's :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I had no idea how long I was unconscious, but I was brought out of my sleep by the feeling of hitting water.

Startled, I tried to open my eyes, only they wouldn't open. It was like they were sealed shut. I was definitely under water, but strangely it didn't feel cold, but comfortingly warm instead. I began to panic though, if I was underwater and couldn't see, where was air? I would run out of air soon, and I might die.

Somehow subconsciously I had the vague idea of what direction up was and tried to move my arms, only they weren't there. I tried feeling for them, but it was like my arms didn't exist anymore. My legs too, were gone.

Air! I panicked again, only... I didn't seem to need air. I had been underwater for at least a minute yet I didn t even feel that burning feeling your lungs gave you when you hold your breath.

Was I dead?

'Oh, I know!' I thought to myself. 'Maybe I'm in morph already.' Maybe somehow I had ended up in the body of a trout or a lobster while I had been asleep, although it didn't explain my eyes. Still guessing I was in morph I focused on the mental image of myself and waited for my body to change.

Nothing happened. I tried moving my arms or legs, they still weren't there. I tried again, beginning to panic again, was I in a morph that I had been trapped in, going over the two-hour time limit?

I was roused out of my panic when something bumped into me. I was too pre-occupied to give much thought and said absently to whatever bumped into me ((Hey watch it.)) I didn't even think what I was saying, too wrapped up in fear.

((Oh, sorry Eslin One-Oh-seven.))

I stopped cold.

That was a yeerk name.

((Ex... Excuse me?)) I stuttered. This had to be a mistake, maybe I misheard. Or maybe this was a dream, a very bad dream.

((Yeesh, I said I was sorry Eslin.))

((Eslin?)) I repeated. And then it hit me. ((I'm ... you're...)) I was talking to a yeerk.

No, worse I **WAS** a yeerk

((NO. NO. NOOOOOOO)).

((Oh dear, it still seems you're still confused.)) The other yeerk said absently, almost to himself. ((Looks like we'll still have to continue the treatment.))

I only paid so much attention to him, I was too busy wrapped up in my own horror. What had happened? Had I been in morph somehow and had gotten trapped? How?

I felt something large gently take a hold of my body. I was dragged up from the warm liquid I was in and my skin felt dry air. Then I was placed in more liquid, only feeling around I was in some small container. I touched one nearby wall, and then, strangely, I could see.

Only it wasn't quite sight. Everything seemed pixelated like an old computer screen. Yet I could see I was in a laboratory of some sort. Some men in white lab coats moved around looking busy, while a hork-bajir stood patiently, probably a guard.

"Who are you?" Stupid, question, they were yeerks of course. "Where am I? What have you done to me?"

Strangely enough I could speak, because one of the men looked up and approached where I was. Probably some mechanism of the container I was in.

"Oh good, you're finally acknowledging us. You've been quite a concern lately, Eslin."

"What are you talking about? What have you done to me?"

"Hmmmm." The man, a doctor of some sort I guessed, frowned then looked at an electronic pad. "Okay then would you like to tell us who YOU are?"

"Me?" I felt a chill. I couldn't tell them who I really was, the other animorphs might be at risk. My mind raced to some up with some andalite-sounding name but before I could, the doctor looked up and answered for me.

"Let me guess, you believe you are a human male child called Jake Berenson, leader of a band of five morph-capable humans and one andalite aristh that call yourselves the animorphs, who are trying to fight our yeerk take-over of Earth?"

If I had a jaw I would have dropped it.

"No." More horror (if it was even possible at this point) swept over me. If they knew who I was, what about the others?

"I'm afraid the reality is quite different. You are not human, you are a high-ranking yeerk, Eslin One hundred and seven. You had an unfortunate run-in with some instant maple and ginger oatmeal and have been out of it for some time. You have been in a delusional state for over two months now, and appear to believe you are in fact your host."

"My host?" I echoed, this couldn't be real. I refused to believe this could be real.

"Yes, your host, Jake Berenson. If you please..." He spoke the latter part to the hork-bajir, who dragged out a gurney with a restrained person on it, who seemed to be unconscious. It was a teenage boy, tall, with short brown hair and a serious expression on a very familiar face.

No it couldn't be.

 **"NO."**

"Eslin, this is important, you and you alone know the secret details of the remaining animorphs and their plan."

"NO! Get away from me you filth! I'm not helping you! Let me go! Let let Jake go!"

"So you finally acknowledge that you are not Jake?" The Doctor prodded, noticing my slip.

"Oh please no..." I WAS Jake wasn't I? I remembered, I was a human, a boy who liked basketball, comic books, video games, hated school...

"Do you finally know who you are?"

I was an Animorph, I fought the yeerks, turned into animals. My friends... Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, Ax...

"I think it's finally time for you to proceed to the next step." The Doctor moved towards me.

"No! Stay away! Get away from me! I'm not a yeerk! I'm NOT one of you!"

I wanted to curl up, get away from this scene. In a way, I could. I moved my body away from the wall of the container I was in and curled up my short small limbless body.

I couldn't see, but I preferred darkness.

It couldn t be real. It just _couldn't_.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:- I don't own animorphs, Scholastic does

"BreeEEET! BreeEEET! BreeEET! BreeEET!"

Eyes snapped open, and I turned and saw the red numbers of my alarm clock. I reached out and automatically hit the snooze button, trying to get my bearings. I was at home, in my nice soft warm bed, and I really didn't want to get up. Was it the weekend yet? No, I had school. Did any missions happen last night? The yeerks ...

Suddenly the dream I had last night came flooding back into my memory. Me, as a yeerk... but it must have been a dream, after all; here I was, still in my own body, still the animorph Jake. I laughed in relief, glad that a dream was all it was. It was rather disturbing though, maybe I've already had too much stress caused by all the battles we have had.

What time was it? I looked at the clock that flashed 6:32 am. I rolled over, I could afford to sleep in a bit more, and I would have slept in a bit more when my Dad knocked on my door.

"Wake up Jake, you're going to be late for school."

"I'm up! I'm up!" I groaned, flipping the blankets off and rubbing my eyes. I quickly changed my clothes and brushed my hair before stepping out of my room to get breakfast. Still groggy, I almost ran into Tom...

...My older brother Tom who was secretly a controller.

"Hey, easy there midget!" Tom ducked out of the way just in time.

"What? Oh hi. Sorry Tom." I had gotten used to putting up a fake-nice routine to keep up appearances. Tom couldn't know I was an animorph, couldn't get suspicious.

"You okay midget?" Tom's brow furrowed in a look of concern.

I quit rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "I'm fine. Why?" Tom hesitated a moment. "I think I heard you screaming something last night. You sounded scared."

My heart skipped a beat. What did I yell in my sleep last night? What had Tom heard?

"Nightmare." I quickly supplied the best response. It was the truth, after all.

Tom continue to press. "Sounded pretty bad then. Want to talk about it?"

"No thanks." I pushed past him, a little too rudely, and marched down the stairs, looking forward to breakfast. Tom followed.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I was greeted by the scream of metal scraping on metal, of hissing and sizzling. My Mom had cooked something for breakfast, it seemed. The smells of eggs permeated through the air, making me hungry.

"Woah, what's this?" Tom marveled as he looked over Mom's shoulder.

"I thought I should do something to help you boys eat healthy." She explained as she pushed scrambled eggs onto some plates. Scrambled eggs with herbs and cheese and toast, it seemed. I scoffed it down while Dad sat bored, looking at the newspaper and muttering about politicians.

"I've also got some oatmeal of you boys want it..." Mum suggested.

"No thanks." I shook my head, reaching for the coco-pops instead. Truth be told, Marco on a previous mission had an oversupply of oatmeal when we tried to use it as a weapon against the yeerks; apparently yeerks get addicted to one flavour of it. Needless to say, I have had enough of it already, and could do this morning with a good dose of refined sugar.

Mom saw me pour in the coco pops and milk into my bowl and scoffed, shaking her head. She turned to Tom and gave him a smile, a look, as if to say what should I do with him? Tom gave a slight smirk, glancing at me and then nodding back at Mom.

...I had no idea what that was about.

I finished breakfast, gathered my school things, slung my backpack over my shoulder, about to leave and head out for school, when Tom stopped turned up again by the front door. "Jake, are you sure you're okay?"

"Look Tom, I'm fine. Really, there's nothing to worry about." The more Tom pressed the subject, the more nervous I got. Did he suspect me?

"You know I'm you're older brother right? If you're having any problems, I'm always there for you." He gave a look of concern.

...Yeah. I wasn't falling for that. I knew what was sitting in his brain, controlling his body.

"Tom, if I was having any trouble, I'm sure you'd be the first to know." It sounded a little too mechanical of a response. Trying to hide it, I feigned annoyance, waving to the front door. "I'm going to be late for school." Tom stepped aside and let me pass, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I needed to be more cautious around my home.

I began the short walk to my school. It was a nice day, the sun was out but there was a cool breeze warning of winter fast approaching, but not so bad it was unpleasant. The air was fresh and I let in a deep breath. I looked at the blue sky streaked with clouds, and spotted a bird-of-prey circling above. It gave a "tseer" and I wondered if it was Tobias. Looking around, making sure nobody was watching, I gave the bird-of-prey a wave. There wasn't any reply however, instead the bird gave another "tseer" and flapped away.

Maybe it wasn't Tobias then...

Shrugging, I kept walking, but as I saw more kids walking to school along with me, I didn't spot Marco turn up like he usually did. I shrugged to myself again, it was probably nothing. He could be late, or early, or sick.

But with both of our double lives, with so many fight we had been in, worry began to trickle into my mind.

The bell rang and I sat down for roll-call. Usually I had the same roll-call class as Cassie, but she wasn't sitting in the class either. I sat and pretended to read my book, looking around the classroom for her as the teacher called out names. But when Cassie was called, no-one answered. The teacher shrugged after calling for her a second time and decided she was absent for the day.

First period came and went. Then second, third was maths, Rachel was supposed to be in my class, but she didn't turn up either. I sat worried, trying to pay attention to what the teacher was scrawling on the blackboard. Something about sine waves and calculus. I couldn't focus, where were the other animorphs? What was happening? I needed to look for them, but I needed to also play it cool, pretend I was just a normal kid at school and not act suspicious. I had to wait, sit down and jot down notes, until the bell rang again.

Eventually lunch came and all the kids crowded into the cafeteria. Usually I grabbed a tray and sat next to Marco, but even looking around the place, I couldn't see him. I was really getting worried. Again, though, I needed to pretend I was a normal kid. All I could do was sit down alone and eat my lunch in solitude. It also, strangely enough, struck me how I didn't really know much about the other kids in my school. I had lost track of who was who, too busy involved in my life as an animorph.

Alone, I tried looking around the school corridors, wondering if I could find some indication of what happened to them, some rumour of "Oh, Marco's just got the flu." Something to reassure me, _anything_ when I spotted Erek King by the school trophy case.

"Erek!" I exclaimed, relieved to see a friendly face, a face I knew to know about our fight against the yeerks. I sped up my walking and headed to reach him. But when Erek spotted me, he froze, gave a look of fear, grabbed his bag and ran off.

"Hey, Erek! Wait! I need to know..." He ducked around a corner, so I ran after him, but when I turned I saw nobody in the corridor.

Of course, Erek could project a hologram to hide himself. He could of gone, he could still be there and hiding. He could be anywhere. But what was even odder, was why would he both run _and_ hide from me?

"Erek?" I tried calling out, hoping he was still around even if I couldn't see him, hidden under a hologram. "Erek it's me, Jake." No response.

"Erek?" I prodded again. "Erek, I don't know why you're avoiding me, but the others aren't here, I need to know if anything's happening." Still no response.  
"Erek, where are you?"

A bunch of kids entered the corridor. Kids I recognised as being part of the sharing, the front for the yeerks.

"You looking for Erek?" One of the kids asked. "You mean Erek King? I don't think he's here, but I know he goes to the Sharing."

"We have a meeting on Saturday night, we can pass on whatever you want to tell him then."

"Or you can come join us and tell him yourself. Sharing's cool."

"No thanks." I turned around and headed back the other way.

"Hey, you're Tom's little brother aren't you?" One of them pressed. I stopped and shrugged. Didn't turn. "Yeah."

" ...You know, Tom's been a bit concerned about you lately. He was hoping you could join the Sharing, because there we can help you with any problems"

"Thanks for your concern..." I replied, a little too mockingly over my shoulder. My heart was pounding, however; There was too much pressure from the yeerks getting me, specifically, to join lately. Added with the others being missing, I was getting really nervous. Did they suspect? Were they after me? Did they already have the others?

I needed to play it cool.

"...But I'll be fine. I'll catch up with Erek later, thanks." I gave a rough wave and went back down the school corridor. I really needed to find the other animorphs, but I was still stuck in school, so I headed for the library, try to get some studying done.

My last period was English. I sat looking out the window, listening to Mr Vines talk about Frankenstein. I was semi-interested on what he would mark my essay on it as when he said I had in fact finished it late, but I was also hoping to spot Tobias outside, or someone. I couldn't see anybody, or anything though.

"Did Victor really give the new monster a chance? True she might have become evil, true she might not have liked the monster, but Victor had no way of knowing..." Mr Vines prattled on. I turned back to the teacher, trying to focus on the lesson at hand.

After what seemed like forever, the final bell rang. I shoved my books back into my bag and took off, hurrying out of the building. First thing was first, I would walk over to Marco s home; It was the closest at least.

After a brisk walk, I stood in front of his home. Rang the door bell. Waited...

Nobody answered.

I rang the doorbell again and tried looking inside, but it looked dark, like no-one was there to turn any lights on. Where-ever Marco was, he wasn't at his home.

Now I was really getting worried.

I considered morphing and checking out what it was like inside, but when I checked to see if anyone was watching I saw too many school kids, all headed home for the weekend. I also saw the group of Sharing kids from before watching me.

Okay, play it cool, pretend I was just a normal kid, just concerned where my friend was. I moved on and headed back to my home.

As soon as I entered, I headed straight to the phone. Checked no-one was watching, and dialed Rachel s number. The dial tone rang. And rang... And rang ... Until I got an answering machine.

"Rachel? Are you there? It's me, Jake, can you call me back as soon as you can." I hung up, heart pounding, worried. I needed to morph, go find the others.

"Jake, who were you calling?" I must have jumped ten feet into the air, I hadn't seen my mother.

"I was just calling Rachel. You know, my cousin, I needed help with a maths problem." I rushed out an answer a bit too hurriedly.

"Well, I heard Naomi was out taking her daughters on a camping trip. Just for some family time between them."

"A camping trip?" I squeaked. "Oh, okay, I'll try getting back to her later."

Crud, _where was everyone_?

Nothing for it, I rushed upstairs into my bedroom. Dumped my bag on the ground. I checked the door and headed to the window, planning to morph into a falcon. I looked out, only to let out a sigh of too-soon-relief when I spotted a bird of prey sitting on a nearby tree. A red tailed hawk!

Tobias! Please let it be Tobias!

"Tobias, is that you?" I asked the hawk. The hawk blinked and gave no reply. I looked down, around the home, I couldn't see anybody watching.

"Tobias please, tell me it's you." The hawk only gave a call and flew off, heading up into the air, out of range of my voice.

No way was I giving up. I stepped back, glanced at my closed door to my bedroom, and focused on the image of my dog, Homer. Fur sprouted along my body, my nose pushed forward. I fell onto all fours when my hands and feet changed into paws. I didn't wait for the morph to finish and called out in thought-speak.

((Tobias! Please tell me you can hear me! The others are missing, and I think the yeerks know I'm an animorph ))

((Jake... )) I swore I was never so relieved to hear Tobias speak since... well, there already had been so many battles where he saved my skin.

((Oh, thank God, it _is_ you Tobias. Do you know where the others are? Are they safe?))

((...Please Jake, just stop.)) I could have sworn I heard Tobias voice crack.

((Tobias...)) My voice was low, concerned. ((...What's going on?))

((Jake, whatever you do, don't go looking for us. Don't even try to contact us.))

((... _What?_ )) Why kind of reply was that? What was wrong with Tobias, why would he tell me that? ((Tobias _why_ are you telling me that? What...))

((Goodbye, Jake.)) I could hear a mournful call of a hawk, and deep down, I knew he was gone.

 _But why?_

((Tobias? Tobias! Come on man, speak to me!))

I heard nothing but silence.

((Tobias, please, don't go... the yeerks... ))

I still heard nothing, and the feeling of devastation crashed down onto me. The other animorphs were gone, who knew what had happened to them? Tobias wouldn't talk to me, and suddenly I felt scared and alone.

'Keep it together Jake, you were supposed to be the strong leader!' I mentally slapped myself. I knew I could trust Tobias, I'd trust him with my life. Whatever reason he had for abandoning me, for telling me to not look for the others, I was sure he had a good reason. I hoped so. I just had to trust him and sit tight until whatever was happening would blow over.

But the feeling of being abandoned still stung.

I sat down, put my head on my paws, trying to let the dog's instinct take over, cheer me up with the dog's happy-go-lucky nature. After a moment I gave up and was about to morph back into human, when the door to my room opened and Tom entered, looking down at me.

Me... Or Homer shouldn't of been that suspicious being in my room. I gave a bark and waved my tail, trying to act the part. But instead, Tom just smirked at me, and asked. "Well, are you going to stop pretending now and morph out?"

(( **Oh no...** ))


	4. Chapter 4

Story isn't mine, animorphs belongs to scholastic.

::::::::::::

Tom grinned down at me, producing a dracon beam from his jacket and pointed it at me.

"Morph out now, _Jake_. You're running out of time after all. You only have so long before you're trapped in morph, and we can't have that, now, can we?"

I tried one last ditch effort to play the part of Homer, and gave another bark.

"Don't try to play innocent animal with me, midget. We had already installed cameras in your room. We have already seen you morph. Now, demorph. _NOW_." Tom readjusted his dracon at me, his voice threatening.

Crap, he had seen the entire thing. How could I have been so stupid? So careless?

More to the point, how long he had been suspicious of me to go ahead and do that?

Either way, I was trapped in my room, with Tom pointing a weapon at me. I looked past him, calculating, seeing if I can make a run for it.

Tom must have seen me looking, ready to bolt, and grabbed me by the scruff of the neck.

"Uh uh uuuuh…." He tsked. "Don't even think about trying to run away."

I struggled to get out of his grasp, growling, trying to think of a way to get away from Tom, when I heard my mother's voice.

"Tom? What are you doing?"

Tom quickly straightened up, shoved the dracon beam back in his jacket, and shut my bedroom door.

"Uuuuhhh…. I was just playing with Homer." He tried giving an excuse to hide what he was doing.

"I thought I told you to mow the lawn…."

"I was Mom, but…." Taking advantage of Tom's distraction, I took this moment to morph out of dog and back to human. I had to hurry before Tom turned his attention back on me. Morph quickly, then morph to falcon and get the hell out of there…

My paws shifted back into human feet and hands, my tail sucked back into my spine. Colours flooded my vision as my eyes changed back into human eyes. I had to hurry… I was just glad my mother arrived when she did providing Tom with a distraction. It was a good thing she was still human and Tom still had to play his part.

Odd that Tom _would_ still play the part, I was certain, as desperate as the yeerks were to catch us animorphs, Tom would just ignore mom or worse. Suspicion seeped into my mind as a memory flashed through my head, of this morning, when Mum looked at Tom when I ate breakfast and Tom smirked back and nodding….

 _Was_ my Mum human?

Surely…

Suddenly I could hear the argument outside my room change in tone. They had stopped arguing over lawn mowing, and I heard my mom say. "Do you think he's had long enough?"

"Let's see shall we?" And Tom opened my room to show me, just finishing morphing out of dog. My eyes widened in shock. A trick! It was all a trick!

"See, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." My mother spoke in a low, dangerous tone, smiling smugly. "All we had to do was lull him into a sense of brief security."

"MOM?" I gaped in horror. She had been taken! Taken by the yeerks! I had to get out, now!

Not wasting any time, I rushed forward, hoping to barrel into Tom but he just pushed me back onto my bed.

"Not this time midget. This time…" He brought out his dracon beam again, pointed…

"…this time, there is no more escape."

He fired.

TSEWWW!

A flash of red, and for a long time, all I knew was darkness.

Coldness…

I awoke, blinked at the bright lights until my vision adjusted. I tried to move my arms, but found that I couldn't. Was it too late? Had I been taken by a yeerk myself? I tried moving my head. It could move!

Grateful for being able to do even that small movement, I tried looking around at my surroundings. I was on a table, restrained from the look of things, in a white room with a screen on one side and a window on the other. From that window I could hear howls, screams, the sloshing of liquid, and laughter, dark laughter. On each corner of the room an armed hork-bajir stood guard.

Of course. I had been captured, and now I was somewhere in the underground complex of the yeerk pool.

Not a good situation. I had to get out while I could.

I tried moving my hands again, but they wouldn't move. I could try morphing, something small. I closed my eyes in concentration, focusing on a cockroach…

"I wouldn't try morphing if I were you." My eyes snapped open. There, leaning by the door, was Tom. He stood with his arms crossed, watching me.

"We have injected you with a paralysis drug. We also have a force field surrounding your body, so even if you could morph, you're likely to get crushed by whatever body part shoots out first, even if it was something small, I wouldn't press my luck." Tom explained. He pushed up from the door and began walking around me, examining me.

"So what are you planning to do with me, huh?" No use keeping up pretenses any more. It was obvious the yeerks knew what I was, now that they had me. "You want to kill me, hurry up and finish the job." As frightening as dying sounded, I was hoping that was what they had planned. There were things worse than death, and the yeerks were all too happy to provide such fates.

"Kill you? No, why would we waste someone who's morph capable? You're much too valuable to be destroyed."

My blood froze. I was certain they were going to infest me, and I would live out the rest of my life as a yeerk slave, a controller. Forced to watch as I was made to betray my friends…

"…You're not going to…." I choked, horrified.

"…Infest you?" Tom finished for me, smiling. "Jake, Jake. _Jaaake_. Haven't you already realised? You're already infested."

" _What_?"

"'What?'" Tom repeated mockingly. "Don't you remember? I thought we had for once made some progress." He walked over to the screen, still blank, and pressed a button. A moment later Chapman walked in. I wasn't surprised that he would turn up.

"Oh hello Jake." Chapman said. It sounded like he was greeting me after walking into his school office for being late for school. "How are you feeling?"

I gave him an angry glare in reply.

Chapman only laughed, when Tom spoke up. "He still thinks he's human." Chapman's laughter died down.

"Don't you remember? You're one of us." I shook my head. What was wrong with the yeerks? Why did they think I was one of them? I was me, Jake. I was free, at least when I wasn't pinned down to a table.

Maybe I could play this to my advantage. If they thought I was a yeerk, I could pretend, use it to get out of this place.

"Oh. Yeah. Now I remember." I spoke up. "I am a controller, I work for the glorious yeerk empire. May the kandrona shine and strengthen you."

"See, he knows who he is." Chapman turned back to Tom. "There was nothing to worry about, after all. We should let him go…."

But Tom just stood with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed at me. "I don't think so. I know my little brother better than that; I think he's faking it in order to get out."

"No, I really am a yeerk." I shook my head.

" _Really_?" Tom stood in front of me. "Prove it. Give me your name."

"I….." I racked my brain trying to come up with an answer. If I said the wrong thing….

A yeerk name, any yeerk name…

"I… I…" I didn't know what to say.

"You're name…" Tom narrowed his eyes again, his voice firm. "…Is Esplin 107. You don't remember that, do you, _Jake_."

Esplin 107… why did that name ring a bell?

It took a moment, but I remembered that dream I had. But that was only a dream I had, surely…

Tom must of seen the recognition in my eyes, and smiled, nodding. "Oh, you do remember. Maybe you just need your memory jogged a bit more." He walked back to the screen and pressed the same button again. Tome turned to look over his shoulder. "Perhaps you remember this person?"

The door opened again, and in walked an old man in a lab coat, a familiar man, average build with wavy grey hair, worn blue eyes behind glasses. The doctor from my dream!

"You? No, you were only a dream!" I gaped as the doctor turned to look at me.

"Esplin 107, still having trouble remembering I see?" The doctor smiled sadly, looked at his clipboard, and turned to Tom. "How is he?"

"He's struggling but he's getting there."

"This can't be…" I shook my head. Struggled against my bonds, but again, my hands wouldn't even move. "This is all wrong!"

"So you're finally seeing the truth?" Tom asked. "You're not Jake. You're not an animorph. That life is over, you're one of us now."

"NO!"

"Now stop being a fool and tell us where the other animorphs are."

"I'll never betray the others!" I yelled back in protest. "I'm not one of you."

"Really." A smile crept over Tom's features. He walked over to the window and looked out to the yeerk pool beyond, then turned back to me. "You're hosts parents are down there you know. We have taken them already; their yeerks are in the pool feeding on kandrona as we speak. The parents are in cages waiting to get infested again."

I said nothing, feeling anger over what the yeerks had done to my family. Tom indicated the window with his head. "Get out of that host or we will kill the parents of our hosts."

"What? But… but.." I spluttered. Impossible, they couldn't expect me to…

"Do it." Tom said firmly. "Or your parents are dead." I could tell from his tone, and knowing yeerks, that he was serious. My parents would die.

But I wasn't a yeerk! I wasn't one of them! I was Jake! I was free!

How could I leave my body when I was a human?

"No!" I yelled in protest.

"Then leave that body." Tom crossed his arms again.

"But I'm not…"

"Aren't you even going to _try_?" Tom hissed.

"I…" This was insane. Insane! I couldn't possibly be a yeerk, it would be impossible to do what they said. But I couldn't let my Mom and dad die..

What could I do?

"Just try it, Jake." The doctor said tiredly. "When you are out of that body, we won't hurt you."

"Yet." Tom glared at me warningly. "Now do it, or watch your parents die."

"I…"

I didn't want to believe what they said, and humoring them would only get so far. But I had no choice, I had to try doing what they said. It might have been the only chance my parents might live, and if I couldn't leave my body, if I was just Jake, well, at least I tried.

I closed my eyes, and concentrated. Focused on disconnecting.

Surprisingly, it worked. To my shock and horror, I felt myself separating from my brain… Jake's brain. I felt a hole and squeezed through it, instinctively using some sort of echolocation to find may way around. I squeezed through a hole, an ear, until my body felt dry air. I left the body, blind, mute, almost deaf, and I felt something warm and large hold me.

It couldn't be… That dream _WAS_ real. And I really was a yeerk.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own animorphs. They belong to the yeerk empire... I mean scholastic

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Even if I could speak, I would not have been able to say anything; I was speechless. My body tightened as it hovered in the air, I could feel movement for a while. I was helpless in the grasp of someone, but I was too shocked to care. Eventually my body was lowered into a liquid, thicker than water this time. Not only was it thicker, but it seemed to have some taste that my body could sense; A sort of oily richness that my body seemed to enjoy, like enjoying a greasy hamburger or pizza. It was only then I realised in some way I was hungry and now I could "eat", only I absorbed whatever was in this liquid through my skin rather than any mouth. I could also feel some sort of warmth from some source like sunlight through the liquid that I felt tempted to relax and soak in.

Kandrona. I was in the yeerk pool.

I was a yeerk.

A _yeerk_.

I floated there and I could feel several objects brush by me. Again, I found I could use some kind of sonar and sensed what the objects were. Obviously, other yeerks. Somehow, in a perverse way, it felt reassuring. I was among my brother and sister yeerks, I felt like I was returning home.

Wait, _what?_

These were yeerks! I was not at home! My home was… _is_ a building, a house, where I lived with my family… When they were free. I was Jake! Jake the animorph!

I gave trying to morph to human a try, trying to focus on the shape of my body. Not that it would of worked; even if it was a morph I was in, I had obviously been in this form over the two hour time limit.

What was I going to do?

I had to find the others, the other animorphs. Maybe they could help…

Only...

Tobias warned me not to look for them. Did he know? Did all of them know? Of course, they saw me as a yeerk, controlling Jake, using him to find them, betray them. They no longer trusted me.

But I wouldn't betray them! I was one of them.

I was Jake!

((My name is Jake!)) I found that I could squeak out some words. None of the other yeerks seemed to pay me any mind.

I just sat, floating in the liquid, the warmth –the kandrona- pulsing through it, energising my body. I was a human boy trapped in the body of an alien enemy, a helpless slug, a yeerk. I couldn't morph out either, there was no escaping this world I was trapped.

Well there was one escape, but I refused to think any further on it.

((So this is my end.)) I said aloud, miserable. It could have been worse, it wasn't as if I was in any pain. It could have been better, though; I wished I could have gone out fighting against the yeerks.

At least the other animorphs were safe, at least I hoped so. They could carry on the fight I was no longer part of. Would they one day blow up the yeerk pool, including me? I didn't care. I didn't care if I died. Would they rescue me? No, I was a yeerk, the enemy. They might rescue Jake… whatever happened to him. But me? I was a lost cause. I might as well live the rest of my days here, in this pool.

Nothing mattered anymore.

For a long time I hovered there, lost in my own misery, slowly sinking to the bottom. It was some time before another yeerk approached me and touched me with his palps.

((Eslin 107 you are to report to the infestation pier at once.))

The yeerk who delivered the message swam away, and I would have gaped if I had a mouth.

Infestation pier?

I was expected to infest someone.

My stomach, if it was still present, would have made a flip. They couldn't expect me to do that, could they?

Of course, the yeerk empire would expect that. Those who didn't obey were punished horribly.

But I didn't care. I wouldn't do that to another person. I couldn't. It was wrong!

((No.)) I said aloud. I refused to move, and continued to float in the spot I was in. There was no way I would act like a yeerk.

It wasn't long before a yeerk –I wasn't sure if it was the same one from before or another- came to me and repeated the message in a more urgent tone.

((No.)) I told him more firmly.

((Eslin… You have to…))

((I don't care what your stupid empire wants. I'm not doing it. I'm not infesting anyone.)) I protested.

((You do realise you might be punished for this?)) The other yeerk warned.

((I don't care. I don't care if Visser three himself tortures the hell out of me…))

((Visser three is dead.)) The yeerk replied.

That cut me out of my thoughts. ((…what?))

((If you want further information, you had best infest your awaiting host.))

Interest piqued as it was, it wasn't enough to sway me.

((No.))

((Have it your way, Eslin)) The yeerk said somewhat sadly and swam away.

I hovered there some more and waited for my fate.

Not too long after, something large came and grabbed me out of the pool, something mechanical this time from what I could sense with sonar. I was placed again into a box with water, and I touched one side and could "see" once more from some device.

"You're not making this easy for us, are you Eslin?" The doctor from before smiled sadly.

"You can't do this. I am not one of you." I protested.

"But you are. Just look at you. You're one of us; A yeerk."

"Only in body." I said quietly. "Inside, I am still human."

"Still Jake?" The doctor pointed a pen towards a body lying as if asleep on a table. Jake.

Seeing that body again had me reeling all over once more. Again I was faced with this new reality; I was not Jake.

Jake was…

"What happened to him?" I dared to ask. "To me?"

The doctor for once put down his clipboard, sat down and sighed.

"Jake Berenson was an animorph, a morph capable human fighting against the yeerk empire. We originally thought they were andalite bandits. That was until one night, his brother, who was being controlled by one of us, began to suspect him."

With his explanation starting, the doctor reached over and pointed to a remote aimed at whatever device I was sitting in, and I could view two scenes at once; the doctor's lab and what seemed to be some old footage of what happened. I saw an image of Jake in the same table I was in before, restrained, cringing in horror as a yeerk was brought to his ear.

"This was little things over time, mind you. Eventually he decided to have his hosts' brother infested. He thought it was just another human who somehow knew about the yeerks. Imagine our surprise when we found out he was morph capable. Visser Three was delighted."

I gave a rude snort. That bastard Visser three would take advantage. I saw an image of Jake, now a controller, grinning and morphing a tiger, a seagull and a lizard in front of a surprised andalite controller. The doctor pressed on.

"The yeerk who had the honour of infesting Jake was you; Eslin 107. You wasted no time and gave the names and addresses of the other animorphs, trying to explain what you could. You didn't have too much time, mind you. We had to plan the capture of the other animorphs, after all."

The footage showed controller Jake with an entourage of hork-bajir and armed men breaking down the door to Rachel's home, only to find it vacant with nobody in sight. Another image showed Jake's mother, now a controller, clutching the phone angrily as she tried to find where her sister took her family.

"Unfortunately they somehow caught wind of Jake's infestation and had fled along with their immediate families to an undisclosed location we had hoped you would inform us of."

I could imagine someone… be it the Chee or the peace movement, telling the other animorphs, their horror and shock when the realised their leader, Jake, had been taken. The hurry to get their families out of harm's way. Their relief when they escaped, and their loss when it sunk in that their team-mate, their friend was lost. Maybe they got together and planned Jake's rescue… from me.

"Indeed, you seemed ready to plan our next move to find them, when it turned out your host, Jake, had been consuming an unspecified amount of maple and ginger instant oatmeal over an unknown amount of time. Apparently they were planning to use it against us in a previous attack, but had decided otherwise and used the surplus of the oatmeal as food."

Of course! How had I… or Jake.. not realised! All that oatmeal Marco had brought that we had been eating was in our… their bodies and would affect any yeerk that would infest them.

"It was soon apparent that you were going insane from the effect of the oatmeal, an effect we recognised too well but already too late; you had lost your mind. We didn't dare to infest Jake again and allow another yeerk to be contaminated. Besides, we need to get you out of that head first. But at the same time, we needed Jake to inform us on where the other animorphs were, how to attack."

An image of Jake, restrained once more, this time rambling and struggling against his bonds as the doctor moved towards him with a syringe filled with a glowing purple liquid and injected Jake with it.

"Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you look at it, we had been developing an antidote to the instant maple and ginger oatmeal's effect on the yeerk. It was all experimental, of course, my design, in fact. We were still in the testing stages, and the antidote hadn't been perfected yet…" The doctor rambled on a tangent for a moment. He seemed guilty, ashamed.

"But Visser Three demanded that this new antidote be used on you and Jake. He was furious, he wanted the animorphs captured for once and for all, or killed. I had no choice, Visser Three wouldn't listen. So I treated you with the experimental antidote. But while it gave back your need for kandrona, albeit you don't seem to need as often as other yeerks… your mind was forever changed.

"You suffered some sort of amnesia, where you thought you were your host, Jake Berenson, the animorph. Meanwhile your host, Jake… His mind became blank. His body is alive, but vegetative, only useful to a yeerk."

I stared at Jake through the pixelated screen. His face seemed so calm, was the real Jake lost for good? What did the other animorphs do?

The image showed next was of the yeerk pool, and a battle raged. A gorilla, Marco, was throwing hork-bajir like they were rag dolls. Ax in his original andalite body slicing limbs off of his attackers in a flurry of movement. A red tailed hawk pivoted in the air and swooped down to attack a taxxon's jelly eyes. A massive elephant trumpeted and began charging towards a waiting Visser three, already morphing something large from who-knows-what-planet, something large and pale yellow, covered with tentacles with eyes at the end, and a flower-like head.

"Of course, the other animorphs arranged a counterstrike; an attack on the yeerkpool we assume was to rescue your host Jake. There was a battle, only they too realised Jake was no longer cognizant once they reached him. One of them, an elephant, was particularly enraged. Visser Three took to taunting them, and one of them snapped and fought with Visser Three in one of his morphs until Visser Three was killed."

If I still had a mouth I would have hidden a smile. Rachel was not known for pulling her punches, and realising Jake was lost, there would have been hell to pay. Or was it Rachel? Cassie, too, had an elephant morph, and cared a lot for Jake as well.

The final images showed the animorphs, not running out but walking back up the stairs, demorphing. Rachel hugged Cassie who was holding her face in her hand as she cried. Ax's tail hung low as he trudged up the stairs slowly, and Marco, still a gorilla, brought up the rear. He stopped to turn and face the yeerks with a look of pure rage that his gorilla morph managed to pull off, before following the others, Tobias flying ahead.

"Once Visser Three was dead, the other animorphs just left, as if they had nothing more to fight for, at least in that battle. They left Jake, still a vegetable, with us, while they went to hide wherever they are hidden. Since then we have worked hard to undo the damage done to both you and Jake so that we may find the other animorphs and defeat them once and for all.

"We dare not infest Jake with another yeerk still, afraid of contamination. It was fortunate you seemed capable of un-infesting and re-infesting hosts, even if you do so only subconsciously. While the host is morph capable, now the only morph capable host we have, the mind still blank and we cannot gather any information from him. But you hold all his memories, and with that it is up to you to inform us how to deal with the remaining animorphs so that we can finally take control of earth.

I could only sit there, watching the doctor, taking all the information in. After an expectant pause, I spoke up softly.

"I can't do what you ask of me. What you, the yeerks, are doing is wrong. Stealing bodies, taking over the Earth. Whether I'm Jake or not, there's no way I can take part in that."

"Is that so?" I looked further off and spotted Tom leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. How long had he been there?

"I'd have thought, midget, that you'd know the yeerks well enough to know that we don't give up _that_ easily." He pushed off the wall and walked over to the device I was in.

"After all, there's still plenty of ways to skin a cat… Or should I say tiger?" Tom reached out, pushed something on the device, and once again, for a long time, I could see nothing.


End file.
